East Coast Wars
The East Coast Wars was a battle for control of the Tri State region between four hardcore promotions based there: DAVE, Rapid Pro Wrestling, Philly Power Pro Wrestling, and the Xtreme Federation Of Wrestling. Lasting from 1995 - 1998, the East Coast Wars would be a major part of hardcore wrestling history. Establishing Boundaries (1991 - 1995) In July 1991, Philly Power Pro Wrestling was born. Being the most traditional of the four companies, it's product involved mostly traditional face vs heel wrestling with a medium amount of hardcore action. It was the only major promotion in the Tri State region for just over a year, with Danger And Violence Extreme and Rapid Pro Wrestling being born in September 1992. These three promotions crowded into the Tri State region, but the region was overfilled when the Xtreme Federation Of Wrestling was founded in April 1993. Each promotion had it's own style: DAVE were a mostly purely extremist company, RPW offered a fast paced, high flying hardcore product, PPPW offered traditional wrestling with some hardcore action, and XFW offered a product somewhat similar to RPW. These four promotions overcrowded the Tri State region, and in 1995, it resulted in the start of the East Coast Wars. The War Of Extreme (1995-1998) All four promotions declared war on each other in 1995. The four promotions used their best stars to try and draw the largest crowds, while giving people the best hardcore wrestling outside of Japan. During this time, wrestlers such as XFW's Shawn Gonzalez, PPPW's Chris Rockwell, RPW's Brent Hill, and DAVE's Johnny Martin gained prominence and began to attract the attention of the Supreme Wrestling Federation. Final Battle (1998) In March 1998, a four man tournament was held in involving all four main champions of each promotions. Johnny Martin defended the DAVE Extreme Championship, Chris Rockwell defended the PPPW Tri-State Championship, Alex Braun defended the RPW World Championship, and Shawn Gonzalez defended the XFW World Championship. Rockwell defeated Gonzalez and Martin defeated Braun. In a match that would officially end the East Coast Wars, Martin defeated Braun to unify all four belts into the DAVE Unified Championship. Ashes and Dust (1998 - Present) After Final Battle, RPW, PPPW, and XFW closed. With DAVE having won the war, most of the other hardcore wrestlers from those promotions went there. Other workers were picked up by SWF. After the war, DAVE was seen as the #3 promotion in America, right behind the Supreme Wrestling Federation and later Total Championship Wrestling. However, from 2004 onward they were the victim of talent raids from bigger promotions. After this, DAVE had an injury crisis where most of their top stars were injured. Eventually, these issues, along with mounting financial problems, led to DAVE closing in April 2007. However in July 2007, Mitch Naess set up Pittsburgh Steel Wrestling, which is considered to be the spiritual successor to DAVE. A number of DAVE's former workers began working there, and although it's still only a regional sized company, it still intends to grow and complete the revolution. Category:History